TLC: 5 tips on caring for petunias
Diego Roxas, the current Spokesperson for the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), spent the pandemic growing and selling petunias, and continues to do so on the side.
By Yvette Tan
Petunias are beautiful flowers that are easy to care for.
Diego Roxas, the current Spokesperson for the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), spent the pandemic growing and selling petunias, and continues to do so on the side.
He offers five tips to help them thrive:
Set expectations. “Most flowering plants (such as sunflowers, petunias, and marigolds) don’t live forever… and it’s not because you’re a bad gardener, but it’s because it’s the inherent life span of the plant… That’s my first reminder to people who get upset and say [the plant died] and that must mean they’re bad at gardening,” he said in Taglish. “It’s not forever, but it’s not your fault.” Expect petunias, in particular, to last three to six months.
Give them full sun. Most flowering plants, including petunias, thrive best under full sun. “Most flowering plants don’t flower because they lack the energy that comes from the sun,” Roxas explained. He qualifies this as “at least six hours, morning till afternoon.”
Watch your watering. Make sure that the plants are adequately watered: they shouldn’t be too dry nor too wet. “If the soil is kept wet, you are setting it up for rotting,” Roxas said. His tip: “You only water until the soil is damp to the touch; damp but not wet... No more, no less.”
Use fertilizer. “I know it’s expensive, but it cannot be understated,” he said. “I would emphasize that [the plants] should be properly fertilized, no more, no less. Too much and the plant dies, too little and [the plant] will lack nutrition.” He doesn’t specify a specific type of fertilizer. “The usual 4P will do, though hydroponics fertilizer is much better. Water soluble ones are much better.”
Enjoy! The point of caring for flowers is to enjoy the process. Don’t stress yourself [or the plant] out by being a helicopter plant parent. “Don’t overcare. You don’t have to check on it every hour… you just have to check it [maybe] once a day… Sometimes you just have to leave it alone for it to grow properly.”
Photos courtesy of Diego Roxas